Another Attempt

I have a pink floral shift dress that I wear a lot. It's got good cleavage coverage, doesn't fly up, is cool to wear. The kindergarten girls often compliment it. I'm not that excited when I see it in pictures though.

Okay, I guess I don't have too many pictures of myself in it. This was on our family cruise, Jan 2014 (there's only about 4 pictures of me from the entire cruise, and at least two of those were selfies). I don't know if just the fact I'm surrounded by very tall people makes me feel even more short, or what. I know a shift dress (especially in woven) is probably not the most flattering shape. It fits at the bust and then hangs. But that's also what makes it comfy, LOL! When showing my girls the doomed bright pink dress of the last post, we realized that because the dress isn't skintight, then that means I must be smaller than the dress, so although you can't tell my exact shape, at least a smart person would realize I'm not as big as the dress. If that makes sense?

I want to replicate this dress, partly because it's getting a small wear hole behind where the tie rubs as it goes around my waist. It's not in the seam. And it's an easy dress to wear.

I picked up this polyester homemade beauty at Value Village for $7.99 quite a while ago. Megan thought she might like a romper but that idea seems to have past.  I picked off the top portion and took out the side seams. Lots of fabric. Rather than try to copy this dress, I opted for the sleeveless shift dress from the same book, "Dresses and Skirts for First Time Sewers" . I cut a size four. For some reason I didn't think to do a FBA. The sizing is kind of generous. I think I might have flared the skirt out a bit to just use up the fabric, and because swing dresses are in.  I sewed it together and tried it on before doing the trim.

It was too wide at the shoulders/armholes. The neck felt very high, although it'd lose some with the trim. I trimmed the armholes a bit and put on some plain black bias binding for the hidden trim at the neck and armholes.

 I don't know what happened, but there is weird warping along the neckline/armhole (it's not really a strap, but that narrow area). I tried pressing, but did I meant the dress is polyester?

 Can you see it? It just wasn't laying flat. And when I tried it on, I was unhappy. Not just that, but it was clearly still too wide at the upper back and pulled on my arms.

My son was finally ready to do his written driver's test for his learner's permit. I took this along and unpicked all the bias binding while we waited. And then I knitted for another two hours while we waited.

I decided to recut the neck and armholes with the size 3 lines. I didn't want to pick out all the serging though. So I tried the best I could to lay it on the pattern and trace the lines. I carefully resewed all the bias binding, trying to keep the fabric straight to the sides. It was much better, but there was still a bit of wonkiness that the iron couldn't get rid of.

 

Much better. I liked it, but I didn't love it. And I only want things I love now. The neckline felt like it was pressing on my throat, even though you can clearly see it's not. It did keep shifting back on my shoulders.  Plus, it's polyester. So, it's slippery, and on our cruise, it will also be hot.

 

 Am I really that wide? It felt too wide on my upper arms still. There are five sizes, and this is the middle size. See what I mean about generous? I probably could have done the size 2 and done a FBA.

 

See how it shifted back and is up at my neck? Even though it's lightweight polyester, it really bothered my throat!  Sorry for the dark, uncropped pictures. The pictures up above showing the warping around the neck are much better to show the true colours.

So, after taking these photos, I rolled it up and put it in the donation bag. Someone else will love it hopefully.